Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Matteo
Ijuggle entertaining the kids and talking on the phone to Anya for twenty whole minutes before I hear Dmitri and Ivan coming inside the house.
Thinking that I shouldn’t put her in the awkward position of being on a call with her while they’re in the room, I tell her I’ll get right back to her and hang up with a smile so that she knows nothing is wrong.
Just in time too, because the second I put my phone down, Ivan is walking into the living room. Cesar is elated to see him, of course. He’s always happy to have more humans to give him the attention he deserves.
“Are you sure you went for a run?” I tease, allowing him to pluck Cesar from my lap. “You don’t look like you sweat a single drop.”
He gives me a dull grunt. “I took a shower.”
“And you didn’t wash your hair?” My nose crinkles, knowing how sweaty my own head gets after a good workout.
“I did wash it. I just dried it after.”
“You dried your hair?” I chuckle. “What, are you expecting company or something? Who dries four inches of hair?”
Ivan rolls his eyes, unamused. “I do.”
“No need to be sassy about it,” I quip, giving him a taunting smirk. “It looks very dashing. Right, Cesar?”
“NO!”
I crack up, tossing my head back.
“Hilarious. You knew he would say that. He says no to everything.”
“Not true,” I disagree, shaking my head innocently. “Cesar, should Uncle Ivan get you a snack?”
“N—” He stops himself, eyes going round as the question digests. “Milk.”
Laughter shakes in my ribs. God, I love this kid.
Milk is the only word he says when he demands food, but he’s getting better at pointing at different things that he wants when you give him snack options.
“You heard the man,” I tell Ivan, grinning wide.
Scowling, he says, “You’re a child.”
“And you’re easy to piss off.”
He doesn’t have time for another retort before Dmitri joins us in the living room, immediately retrieving his daughter from me.
The future Russian Pakhan is much more reserved than his younger brother, greeting me with a clipped nod. “How were they?”
I’ve gotten used to his almost stoic personality. He really only lights up for Jade and the kids, but he’s also warmed up to Apollo quite a bit. Figures.
“Good, as always.” I get up from my seat now that I’m child-free and clap my hands together. “We were only alone for like twenty minutes. Jade will probably be asleep for at least another hour.”
Dmitri nods slowly, pressing a gentle peck to the top of Isobella’s head. “Did I hear you talking to someone when we came in?”
Nothing gets past this guy. I swear he could actually hear a pin drop in a crowded room.
“You did.”
He doesn’t mind my clipped response, continuing to inquire otherwise. “And how is Anya?”
“She’s good. Your father threatened me last night, so I think she might be embarrassed.”
“What’d you do to get threatened?” Ivan grumbles, shooting me a glare.
“You’re so touchy.” My eyes roll. “He eavesdropped on our phone call and heard me call her beautiful. I think he might have been less angry if he overheard me insulting him instead.”
Ivan looks even more put out at the explanation. “I told you that you flirt too much.”
“It’s not flirting to call someone beautiful,” I point out, crossing my arms. “Unless you’d consider it flirting every time you pay Jade the same compliment. Or Ana, for that matter.”
“That’s different—”
“How?” I cut him off harshly. “They’re your friends, and Anya is mine.”
“Yours?” Dmitri echoes, tilting his head.
Shit…I said mine, didn’t I?
Poker face in place, I wave a hand dismissively. “My friend. You know what I meant.”
“Do I?”
Goddamnit, Dmitri. Must you be so doubtful?
“Not you too,” I groan. “Ivan already took it upon himself to question me, and your father has done more than enough for all of you. So if you don’t mind, I’m finished with the inquisitions. I’ll see you two later, I’ve got shit to do.”
I have nothing to do. Nothing aside from video-chatting with your sister.
Neither of them protest as I leave them with the kids, making my way upstairs without another word.
I have to call Anya back before she thinks I ditched her or died or something.
Maybe she’s not as dramatic as I am, but if I feel ignored for even a few minutes sometimes, my brain goes to the funniest conclusions.
My bedroom does not make for as pretty of a backdrop as Anya’s does, but it’s clean enough that I feel fine isolating there to call her.
There are too many nosey people around this house to take a call anywhere else, unless I decide to take a drive and talk to her parked in the middle of nowhere or something.
Flopping down in bed, I brush my hair back with my hand and open the FaceTime app. By the time the new call has rung three times, I start to wonder if I should have sent a warning text first. But by the fifth, she answers.
She’s not seated at her normal spot, but from what I can tell, she’s sitting down and resting her back against her headboard. I’ve seen it in the background the last couple of times we talked, and from the way her phone has stayed completely steady in the past, I assumed she was sitting at a desk.
We’re both in bed, I muse silently. Why do I like the sound of that?
“Sorry, I’m back,” I say, hoping that I wasn’t staring at her for too long before speaking. “I was handing my duties off and I didn’t want Cesar to eat my phone while I wasn’t looking.”
Plus I didn’t want you to think that talking to me meant risking talking to your brothers if you’re not ready for that.
“It’s fine,” she replies, her voice light and airy. “I figured that you got busy with them. It must be hard, taking care of two of them at the same time.”
I chuckle at that, nodding. “That’s for sure. You get used to it after a while, though. And thankfully Isobella is an angel, so she makes everything so much easier. I really only have to worry about Cesar getting into trouble.”
Anya hums, considering my words. “How much trouble can he really get into at that age?”
“Oh, you’d be surprised,” I insist. “He tries to eat almost anything—even dirt. And whatever he’s not trying to eat, he’s trying to climb on.
I swear Jade has three mini heart attacks a day, pulling a choking hazard away from him or catching him almost falling off something he shouldn’t be on.
And that’s with near-constant monitoring. ”
“You’re really good with them,” she says suddenly—and not for the first time. “Do you want kids of your own?”
My eyebrows raise up at the bold question. Normally, I’m the one asking personal questions, and I usually make them more silly and lighthearted so that she doesn’t think I’m a creep, trying to memorize her every thought and desire.
“Oh, that was too much—” she starts to backtrack, eyes wide.
“Not at all,” I cut in, smiling. “I’m just surprised you asked, not put off by it.
Honestly, yeah. I want kids someday. I didn’t really think about it a whole lot until Jade had the twins.
But I love them so much. They’re challenging, and noisy, and I’m terrified of the responsibility to keep something so small and helpless alive, but I know it’d be worth it. ”
Something shifts on her face, and I can’t tell whether it’s negative or positive, but her lips slowly lift into a smile either way.
“That’s nice, Matteo.”
The way she says my name…fuck, that should not give me chills. I should definitely not be focusing on how her pretty pink lips look when she says it, either.
Say something back, you idiot.
“I forgot to ask,” I rush out. “Your dad’s not upset with you because of me, is he? You two are all good?”
“We’re good,” Anya agrees, nodding. “We talked this morning. He was just being overprotective. I’m sorry if he said anything mean to you. He’s trying to adjust to this, but it’s been hard for him…I haven’t made trusting me easy these past couple of years.”
Sympathy softens in my chest.
“If it helps, I think he trusts you a hell of a lot more than he trusts me.”
Anya laughs through a breath. “I think you may be right about that.”
Adding to the joke, I shake my head in mock disappointment. “I feel like I have a very trustworthy face, but he’s not convinced.”
“He’ll come around,” she replies with a light shrug. “Maybe once he becomes better friends with your father.”
Now it’s my turn to laugh. “You’re really determined to make that happen. I admire the commitment. I’ll start really planning ways to bring them closer this week. Everything has been crazy here lately. I feel like days go by way too fast since the wedding.”
She lights up at the suggestion of planning. “Maybe my dad could go visit, to see the kids. He might consider it if my aunt and uncle stay here with me. Their daughter is at ballet camp for the next few weeks, so it might be a good time.”
“That might work. They’d have to be in close proximity for hours or days depending on how long he stays. I doubt Jade would allow him to get a hotel when we have all the extra room.”
Anya nods, mulling it over. “I wonder how he would feel about staying in a house with so many possible enemies.”
“Possible enemies?” I ask, laying a hand over my chest in view of the camera so that she can see it. “Anya, I’m offended. We’re all family in this house. What could possibly go wrong in a house filled with mistrustful trained killers.”
She’s able to pick up on my sarcasm and laughs lightly.
“Are you one of them?”
My eyebrows rise up. “A mistrustful trained killer?”
She shrugs, but dips her head in a nod, almost looking shy.
Lips twitching, I tilt my head. “Are you trying to record me so that you have a confession on tape to blackmail me in case I forget your birthday or something?”
“What?” she sputters. “Why would I do that? Do you even know my birthday?”
“I’m only teasing.” I chuckle, loving the pink flush on her cheeks. “I know your birthday, Anya. I already have a plan to send you a gift. Do you know mine?”
“You, I—” she stammers. “I asked you a question first.”
I can’t help the laugh that stumbles out of me. “You’re cute when you’re flustered.”
Her big round eyes widen and she flushes an even deeper shade of pink. “I’m not flustered.”
Yes, you are.
“I’ll stop, don’t worry. But to answer your question, I guess you could say I’m one of them. Mistrustful, not so much. I’m sure Apollo wishes I was more skeptical like he is, but I happen to like letting people show me who they are—rather than assuming the worst in them.”
Anya nods. “So you struggle with the mistrustful part, but not the trained killer part?”
“Well now I’m really wondering if you’re trying to get some kind of confession out of me,” I tease. “I don’t struggle with that part, but I don’t relish it either. It is what it is. I like my family and my life, and that just happens to be a large part of it. Does that bother you?”
“N-no.” She nibbles on her bottom lip, considering her reply. “I know that your family is a good one. There are bad ones, and father wouldn’t let Dmitri stay there if he thought you all would be a bad influence on him. If you’re good like my brothers, then it doesn’t bother me.”
I nod along as she speaks. “So, you think your brothers are good?”
“I know they are.” Anya frowns. “I miss them sometimes.”
I don’t want to make her uncomfortable talking about them, but she brought them up. I won’t change the topic unless she wants to. Maybe it’s easier for her to think of them and to speak of them then to actually see them.
“I’m sure they miss you just as much.” If not more.
She shrugs, shoulders rising and falling shortly. “You’re kind to say that.”
“Not kind, just truthful,” I correct. “With the way they’ve both questioned me about my intentions, I know they care deeply for you.”
“They did that?” Her voice almost trembles.
“Of course they did.” I swallow, trying to decide my next words carefully. “If you ever want to ask me about them, you can. I know you haven’t spoken to them, and you don’t have to tell me why, but—”
“They saw me,” she blurts out, cutting me off.
“They saw you?” I echo, keeping my tone low and unintimidating.
“That night.” She exhales hard and shaky.
“My brothers saw more of me than a brother should ever see of their sister. Battered and bleeding, on top of it. I…I can’t look at them without seeing that night.
I can’t talk to them, even though I want to.
It was hard enough to face my father again, and he’s my—he’s my dad.
He watched me be born. He bathed me as a baby. It’s not the same as Dmitri and Ivan.”
Her eyes have gone hazy and cloudy with tears, but none of them fall.
“That must be so difficult,” I respond gently.
“I know what you mean, not about what you went through, of course. But that it’s different with your brothers than it is with your father.
It’s a bit different as a guy, I admit. My brothers have all seen each other in compromising positions, but I would never want Jade to see me that way.
Brothers and sisters, it’s not a relationship that can be explained easily. ”
“Yeah,” she croaks, sniffing and touching her face with the back of her hand as if she’s checking for tears. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to get so emotional.”
“Don’t apologize.” I shake my head firmly. “I was just telling you that you can talk about anything. Ask about anything. I’m here for you. If you want to say it, I want to hear it. Honestly.”
Anya visibly swallows and seems to compose herself. “Thank you. Maybe we should go back to more lighthearted stuff for now, though.”
I flash her a smile, hoping it helps to calm her further. “You got it. I even have a topic of great lighthearted importance to discuss with you.”
She chuckles. “Oh, you do, do you?”
Seriously, I tell her, “I’m a wealth of conversational talking points, Anya.”
“Let’s hear it then.”
After pausing for dramatic effect, I ask, “Cats or dogs?”